It is an erect shrub or spindly tree with holly-like, broadly egg-shaped leaves with 2 to 7 shallow teeth, and down-curved clusters of flowers, the colour depending on subspecies.

The flowers are arranged in leaf axils or on the stems in down-curved, sometimes branched clusters, the end groups on a rachis mostly 10–70 mm (0.39–2.76 in) long, each flower on a pedicel usually 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) long.

[2][4][5] Grevillea wickhamii was described in 1856 by Carl Meissner in de Candolle's Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis from specimens collected by John Clements Wickham in northern Australia during the Second voyage of HMS Beagle.

[8] The names of 6 subspecies of G. wickhamii are accepted by the Australian Plant Census: Wickham's grevillea is widespread in northern Western Australia, in inland regions of the Northern Territory and in western Queensland.

[2][4] All 6 subspecies of G. wickhamii are listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.